


Sibling's Love

by AulaCicero



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Drama, Family, Gen, Sibling Rivalry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-12
Updated: 2014-09-12
Packaged: 2018-02-17 04:16:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2296307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AulaCicero/pseuds/AulaCicero
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Family grudges can run deep, especially in the Dursley Household, but the arrival of an unasuming basket on the Dursley's doorstep causes Petunias carefuly constructed mask to crack.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sibling's Love

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction using characters from the Harry Potter world, which is trademarked by J. K. Rowling."

The boy stares at me with those emerald green eyes that seem to look into the depths of my soul, just like Lily's had always done. How they remind me of Lily, my beloved sister, my friend of younger days and later my rival.

 _How did it come to this?_  

Oh, how long I have denied myself any thought of her. Now it all comes back to remind me, to haunt me. Long forgotten memories flood my brain, of chocolate, stealthily eaten under blankets, of scraped knees and tears, of childhood fears, of laughter, of trips to the seaside. No one could spend eleven years living together without some shared memories.

Distantly I hear Vernon's voice, every fiber of his body demanding an explanation for this unusual delivery. Children left on peoples doorsteps, belong to the land of fairy tales, not in the household of a normal family.

My body is standing next to him, but my mind is in the past. _She is dead_ , I tell myself and nothing you say or do will bring her back. Your regrets and your tears mean nothing to her now. You have driven her away and it is your fault that she died. A small voice in the back of my mind, born out of jealousy and bitterness, insists that she alone was to blame; after all did she not choose those Freaks over her own family.

It doesn't matter in the long run: She is dead and the only things that remain are memories, all those lost hopes, and dreams we once shared. I remember the powerlessness we felt as we watched while the world as we knew it broke apart.

I will go back to tell you how it all began. How the two of us were driven apart.

As long as I can remember Lily had been there. It did not matter, that I was two years older than her. We were like twins and neither one would be seen without the other; we were like one half of a whole. We told each other every secret; we had the same friends and went to the same school. We shared everything together. At that time, it did not matter to me that I did not have my own identity that everyone just referred to me as Lily's sister. We were truly happy. We neither thought nor cared about what the future would bring. We were blind to the truth… But maybe, just maybe, we needed this blindness. It was what held us together, what made us strong.

Our carefree world was shaken for the first time the day the Hogwarts owl arrived.

It had all begun at Lily's eleventh birthday. Even before the fateful letter arrived, a had a premonition that this would not be an ordinary day.

When I went down to breakfast, the table was already laden with presents for Lily. When Lily came down the stairs, her red hair as usual fluttering behind her, everyone stood up to congratulate her. Not much later, we sat all down for breakfast. The day went by fast and we had a great time and shared a lot of laughter. During breakfast the next day, something happened that I will never forget. Out of the blue, an owl swooped over our heads and dropped a letter in Lily's lap. Everyone was frozen with amazement and fear. Lily carefully opened the letter, while the rest of the family still stared at the window, where the owl had left. Lily's look became more and more confused as she read the letter, which she then handed to me.

It read:

 **HOGWARTS/SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY**  
 **Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore**  
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,  
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

_Lily Evans_

_Attic Bedroom_   
_Dominic House,_   
_Sudbrook Lane,_   
_Richmond, Surrey_

_Dear Dear Mr Evans,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry._

_Term begins 31 March. We await your owl no later than 2 April._

_Yours sincerely,_

**_Minerva McGonagall_ **   
_Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry_

_P.S. A Hogwarts representative will call around your place of residence at 11:30  Please be prepared to receive their call._

 Of cause no one in the family took the letter seriously as everyone assumed that it was simply a practical joke by one of the children of the neighborhood. Had we known back then what changes this small piece of parchment would bring? Only half an hour later a man suddenly appeared out of thin air. With his black robes and pointed hat, he seemed more than a little out of place, as if he has planned to go to a children’s birthday or a costume party and had gotten lost.  All of us were startled by this stranger and my father looked as if he was going to call the police. The man explained to us that he was a wizard and I could see my parents becoming more and more agitated, but Lily convinced them to at least her the man out before involving the authorities. The man, who had introduced himself as Professor Flitwick pulled out a wooden stick and suddenly a teacup started to float in mid air.

After my mother had returned from the kitchen with some strong herbal tea to calm my fathers nerves, we sat down and Professor Flitwick told us about the warding world. He described Hogwarts, where students like Lily could learn to control their magical talent and about the various classes. The more he talked, the more I wished I could go with her. Hogwarts sounded like something out of a fairy tale and we had always done everything together so why not this? I resolved to do everything I could to board the train with Lily on September the 1st.

Our parents listened intently and questioned the professor at various points. At one point Professor Flitwick had mentioned a war between wizards and a dark wizard whose name he refused to speak and instead wrote down on a piece of paper.  Of cause my parents were reluctant to let Lily go after this particular piece of information, but the man assured us that Hogwarts was one of the safest places in England and that Voldemort would not attack as long as Dumbledore was headmaster.

Still our parents’ reluctance remained, but as always Lily's stubbornness won through and eventually they relented to her wishes. Lily would go to Hogwarts and would become a fully trained witch. I felt so proud for her.

The months passed and magic began to dominate every one of our conversations. My letter to Professor Dumbledore begging him to let me join Lily at Hogwarts had been denied. Oh he had been kind about it, but the refusal had been made clear. Strangely the more I avoided magic and the warding world, the more Lily would talk about her new life.

During the last week of July we all went to London to buy Lily's school materials. I will never forget the light in her eyes as she stood in front of our parents in full school uniform, an owl perched on her arm. That was when I knew, I had been replaced. Lily still loved me, but I firmly believed that magic had taken my place in Lily's heart. A feeling that I had never felt before, which I later identified as jealousy cut the air out of my lungs, making me unable to reply when Lily asked me what was wrong. During this time of our lives we were still very conscious about each other's feelings. Lily always knew if something was bothering me. Now, when she came back from Diagon Alley, it was already as if she had been replaced with another girl.

This was not the Lily I had grown up with, the Lily I had shared my secrets with. This was Lily the witch, who put magic before her sister. I felt scared to lose my sister, whom I loved dearly, to a mystic power none of us understood. I would never be able to bring back the Lily of my childhood.

I went with the rest of the family to take her to the train station. There were many children of Lily's age, wearing strange robes and carrying toads, owls or cats. Lily sent us many letters. She seemed to be truly happy at this school. I always tried to tell myself that this was the most important thing. However, the feeling of being passed over never left me and began to eat itself deeper and deeper into my heart.

When Lily came home for the first time, I went up to greet her at the station. Another thing had changed; it had never bothered me before that I had stood in my sister's shadow. Now, however, I felt ignored and betrayed whenever my parents talked about Lily's achievements.

Before Lily had gone to Hogwarts, I had no reason to think that my parents might prefer her over me, but now that thought pushed itself deeper and deeper into my brain, poisoning my thoughts.

I felt misunderstood and ignored and despite my sisters best efforts I began to withdraw into myself more and more. Every day I kept repeating the same motto, _you don't need her, she is nothing but a Freak and who would want to be around someone like her anyway,_ again and again, until I could almost believe it.

During the summer break between her Second and Third Year things finally came to a head and Lily who had always been headstrong had confronted me about my behavior. All my pent up anger all the jealousy that I had allowed to fester came tumbling out of me. It felt good to be able to unleash my anger on my sister and I felt the twinge of guilt at the hurt and anger showing in my sister’s face.

"How can you say such things?" she shouted at me.

The worst however was the knowing look she gave me, as if she knew something about me that I did not know. The thought that someone understood more about me than I did myself, even if it was my own sister, was unbearable. The silence following the fight was frightening. Eventually we spoke to each other again the day she departed. It felt milenia removed from the open bond we had shared as children. Despite our outward friendlines, our conversatiosn never lost that frosty edge. It was the way our parents, who were blind to the truth, wanted us to act.

So the years passed by and the wall separating me and Lily grew higher and higher. The insults we shouted at each other went deep. Our relationship was ruined. When I called her a freak one day, she ran into her room crying. I knew she would forgive me if I just apologized, but I stayed distant.

Two years later I graduated from school as one of the top students of the class, that was the last time I saw Lily.

During my time at the University I had met Vernon Dursley. He was starting at Grunnings, a company which made drills. Back then he seemed good-natured, and he was an excellent football player. I fell in love with him at first sight. Half a year later we married, shortly after our parents' death.

They had fallen victim to the War that had broken out between the Ministry and a terrorist group called "The Death Eaters". The neighbors were told that they had died in a shooting, but I knew the truth (or what I thought was the truth.) In my grief I blamed Lily for our parents' deaths. Lily just stared at me in disbelief. She said nothing, but I will never forget the hurt in her voice when she wished me goodbye.

The seeds of mistrust and anger between the two of us had been planted from the moment Lily had set foot on the Hogwarts train. Unbeknownst to both of us it had grown deeper and deeper, estranging us. This conflict was only the last straw. We had chosen different paths in life and we were already so estranged that we could not find common ground any longer. I had to let her go. I could not hold on any longer. The Lily of my childhood days was gone once and for all.

For many years I did not hear anything from my sister until she got married. I had of course told my husband what my sister was. He did not believe me at first and when he believed it, he agreed that it was best that any mention of the Potters or their unnatural talents was to be avoided at all cost. I could never be a witch, I could never be my sister, but I could use my talents to be the best wife and mother that it was possible to be. This, so I swore to myself would be my life goal from now on. Too long had I been Lily's shadow, too long had I wanted things that were impossible. No... normality was good it was safe and it would protect my family. They would never be drawn into this war; they would never loose their lives to the carelessness of wizards.

When the wedding invitation came, Vernon ripped it apart and threw it in the fire. That night I cried myself to sleep. We had ceased to be family and were now no more than strangers. 

Despite everything that happened, I could not bring myself to hate her. I knew the feeling of jealousy and anger would be back it was too deeply entrenched by now, but right now I just wanted to grief for my sister and for the friend I had lost. I knew magic could bring nothing good. In the end, it brought her death.

Listen to me, Lily, if you can hear me up there in heaven. I will take care of Harry, for your sake. I will not let him fall into the same trap as you did. Magic destroyed my life and yours. It took away everyone I loved: my sister and my parents. Magic is only an illusion, it will make you promises, but in they will use you and leave nothing but a broken lifeless shell behind.

I will protect Harry from it, at all costs. This is what I promise to you, Lily.

**Author's Note:**

> I wish to thank all my Beta readers from Wizard Tales and Perfect Imagination , without whom this story would have been impossible.


End file.
